Unlikelier still is the idea that, if elected, the candidates could accomplish their goal, critics say. "This is the triumph of hope over reality," said Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont and a longtime observer of the state's political scene. "The whole movement was spawned by having George W. Bush as president. My guess is that with (Barack) Obama as president and this being Obama's second-best state, the wind has been taken out of their sails." In fact, Obama's failure to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has fueled some of the candidates' positions.
"This is the triumph of hope over reality," said Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont and a longtime observer of the state's political scene. "The whole movement was spawned by having George W. Bush as president. My guess is that with (Barack) Obama as president and this being Obama's second-best state, the wind has been taken out of their sails."
In fact, Obama's failure to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has fueled some of the candidates' positions.
